1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of and decorative devices. More particularly, it pertains to interiorly lit balloons for use at parties and in decorations where the balloons may be self-supporting or supported on thin, flexible, elongated tubes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Balloons have long entranced people as a beautiful decoration and a lively entertainment device. Many balloons of different colors may be tied together in various arrangements for decoration purposes. Different sized and shaped balloons are often hung about a party room to brighten the atmosphere. When, however, the exterior lighting becomes dim, such as in the evening on a patio or when the lights are turned low, the loss of illumination reduces the attractiveness of balloons. The prior art has attempted to solve this problem by positioning light bulbs interior of the balloons so that they possess their own light. Unfortunately, such devices are expensive, are difficult to use and in many cases, fail to achieve the desired purpose.
Most of the prior art devices center around light bulb sockets wherein a light bulb is inserted and over which the neck of the balloon is stretched to place the light bulb interior thereof For the most part, these have been unsuccessful because either the seal between the neck and the socket is not sufficiently air tight, thereby allowing the balloon to slowly deflate, or, the heat produced by the light bulb is sufficiently intense to damage the balloon film causing it to burst. In addition, the means by which the sockets have been inserted into the neck of the balloon have been of the type requiring pneumatic sealing materials to be placed thereabout, thereby making the overall device very cumbersome and costly.
This invention is a novel balloon lighting device that achieves the desired purposes of being an easily assembled device that is low-cost and highly efficient in maintaining the required pneumatic seal about the neck of the balloon and at the same time provides the additional feature of allowing the light bulb to be moved freely about the interior of the inflated balloon so as to permit achievement of more decorative and highly fashionable arrangements.
These results are achieved by providing a unique plug or gate-valve for insertion in the neck of the balloon that has a bore formed therethrough containing at least one concentric constriction ring interior thereof for receipt of a hollow tube that will form a slidable yet air-tight seal within the plug. A light bulb, preferably one having an outside diameter less than the diameter of the tube, is pneumatically sealed to one end of the tube and its electric conductors are threaded down through the interior of the tube to extend out the other end. The tube is thereafter slipped inside the bore of the plug and the conductors connected to an energy source to cause the light bulb to light the interior of the inflated balloon. The tube may be slid further into the balloon or withdrawn partially therefrom so as to allow repositioning of the light within the interior of the balloon.
The special plug or gate-valve is made of low-cost plastic and is easily inserted inside the neck of the balloon, either before or after the balloon is inflated. It is insertable in the neck of a deflated balloon to aid the user in inflating the balloon. In one preferred embodiment, a short, hollow stub helps form the bore in the plug to which a pneumatic source, such as helium or compressed air, may be attached with ease to inflate the balloon.
A simple energy source is provided to which the conductor wires are attached and will provide the requisite power at the appropriate voltage and current. Short pieces of hollow tubing containing a pneumatically sealed light bulb may be used in lieu of the elongated tubing thereby allowing the helium-filled balloons to freely bob and weave about tethered to the energy source only by their thin wire conductors so as to provide for even more opportunity to make unique lighted balloon arrangements.